KARACHI, Feb 16: Three police officials were on Monday suspended and put behind bars of Baghdadi police station, where they were posted, when one of their colleagues, arrested in a custodial killing case, slipped away from the lockup.

ASI Atif Shehzad had been arrested on Saturday following a department inquiry which found him responsible for the death of one, Mohammad Yusuf alias Kaloo, 32, in Baghdadi police lockup.

Yusuf was arrested on the charge of his involvement in drug supply. He died on Feb 5 while in custody. An FIR was registered against ASI Atif and SHO Kalakot Naeem Khan. The latter is absconding.

Police said on Monday that Atif came out of the Baghdadi lockup and proceeded upstairs into Kalri police station from where he 'disappeared'. "I locked up SHOs Akhtar Qureshi of Baghdadi and Shahid Jabbar of Kalri for four hours as punishment.

I have also issued them show-cause notices as to why they would not be dismissed from service for their negligence and lack of supervision," Town Police Officer ASP Ali Mohsin told Dawn on Monday.

He said that the two SHOs had been given 24 hours to re-arrest ASI Atif Shehzad. "If they failed, an action may be taken against them," he added. Mr Mohsin further stated that an FIR was registered against duty officer of Baghdadi police station ASI Saleem Tanoli and two constables, Anees and Banaras, for their criminal negligence. All the three have been arrested.

Yusuf alias Kaloo was picked up from near Jumman Shah plot in Kalakot, Lyari, during the night between Feb 3 and 4. Police had claimed to have recovered seven grams of heroin powder from his possession.

An FIR (28/04) was registered against him by the Kalakot police but as some repair work was under way at the police station, Yusuf was sent to be kept at Baghdadi police station, police said, adding that he died on Feb 5.

The body was taken to the Civil Hospital where postmortem examination was conducted. The examination report suggested that Yusuf died late in the night on Feb 4. Yusuf's family has been accusing SHO Naeem and ASI Atif of subjecting Yusuf to severe torture which caused his death.

They maintained that the policemen had picked up Yusuf from their house and were later demanding Rs50,000 for his release. SHO Naeem, before being nominated in the FIR, rebutted the allegation saying: "It is totally a baseless allegation."

The postmortem report found eight surface injuries on the victim's body. Blood was found congested in the chest and skull which suggested the victim had been hung upside down.